Cancer treatment response evaluation using photoacoustic signal envelop statistics: A preliminary study

Cancer is a major public health problem all over the world. It is currently the second leading cause of death in the United States, and is expected to surpass heart diseases as the leading cause of death in the next few years. To overcome this problem, researchers are discovering new treatments and developing imaging technologies that can aid in early detection of cancer. In this work, we investigate the use of signal envelope statistics to monitor and quantify structural changes in tissues during cell death. Ultrasound backscatter and photoacoustic data were obtained from three mice treated with, Hat-DOX, DOX and saline. The signal envelope statistics were examined by fitting the Rayleigh and Generalized Gamma distributions. The fit parameters showed sensitivity to structural changes in the cells in photoacoustic and ultrasound images. The results indicate that photoacoustic signal statistics can be potentially used to monitor structural changes within a tumor, raising the possibility of monitoring cancer therapy efficacy.